Marcus Ellis & Lauren Smith secured the first BWF World Tour Super 300 title of their career with victory in the Thailand Masters showpiece.
For the third straight day the World No13s had to play out three games before claiming the gold 21-16 13-21 21-16 against Hafiz Faizal & Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja of Indonesia.
It was a fourth appearance in a Super 300 for the English duo, who finally claimed top spot on the podium for their first title win since last year’s European Games.
It will also give them a boost in the race for the Olympics. Only one of Ellis & Smith or the Adcocks are likely to qualify for the 2020 Games, the pairs adjacent to each other on the Race to Tokyo standings.
In Bangkok, Ellis & Smith gradually drew into a first-game lead before comfortably getting over the line without having fallen behind.
Game two was much closer for the most part, the pairs level at 8-8.
However, Faizal & Widjaja bagged eight of the final ten points to set up a decider.
The English combination made a stunning start, racing into a 6-0 lead they would never give up.
And though Faizal & Widjaja reined in that advantage, they could never close the gap completely before Ellis fired the final kill into the court to seal the win.
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsThailand masters CHAMPIONS. What a week it's been. Brilliant performances all tournament. Take a bow @LaurenE_Smith @ellis_marcus111 pic.twitter.com/aHHbHM7kxU
— Anthony Clark OLY (@anthonyianclark) January 26, 2020